Amy Hoffman

Lies About My Family

I began writing LIES ABOUT MY FAMILY because I was wondering about the stories that families tell—the stereotyped ones that are told over and over. Why those stories? What’s underneath them? What’s missing? This led me to do research in the ship-manifest records at Ellis Island and other Internet and written sources, to interview with my parents and aunt, and to gather up our few remaining, scattered family records. LIES ABOUT MY FAMILY examines what I discovered about my history and my relationship to it all—my Jewish heritage, my lesbian identity, and my radical politics.

An all-American coming-of-age story about a nice Jewish lesbian and her large family; from the eastern Europe migration to the present day.

Selected Works

When Nora Griffin, an artist in her midthirties, moves from Brooklyn to Provincetown, she isn't looking for trouble. Her partner, Janelle, is recovering from breast cancer treatment, and together they've decided that the quiet off-season on the tip of Cape Cod is the perfect place for Janelle to heal and Nora to paint. Then charismatic Baby Harris flirts into Nora's life in her red cowboy boots.